This invention relates to a light emission weapon for use in shooting games where the bombardment of a target by a light beam projected from a light emission weapon held by a player results in the incidence of light upon a photoelectric element to generate a hit signal and, thereby, to display the result of the shot.
A light emission weapon of the known type is such that a filament electric bulb goes on upon action of a trigger switch which is actuated in association with a trigger action. However, this weapon system is disadvantageous in that, due to the inherent characteristics of a filament bulb, the light obtained has no steep angle of rise and assumes a hill-shaped slope which results in a failure to discriminate the emitted light from the surrounding noise light (e.g. flickers of a fluorescent light). This failure often leads to a falsely successful display even when the photoelectric element is not properly bombarded. The use of a discharge (xenon) lamp in lieu of a filament bulb produces a pulse light having a rectangular waveform, thus enabling one to preclude erratic activation of the photoelectric element, but the costs of both the xenon lamp and the power circuit for energizing the lamp are so high that the practical utility of the device as a stimulated weapon is considerably reduced.
To overcome the above disadvantages, we invented and disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication Nos. 37272/1972 and 50400/1976 light emisson guns suited for shooting games. These light emission guns have a tungsten lamp and are adapted to mechanically generate a pulse light with a rectangular waveform and which feature a very short time during which the luminosity of the light to be projected is increased to the necessary level.
With such light emission guns, the momentary opening of the shutter mechanism disposed in front of a miniature electric bulb results in the production of a momentary glare of light approximating the pulse light of a discharge lamp, thus causing a sudden change in output signal from the photoelectric element to drive the display transistor circuit. However, this momentary emission of light does not produce a trailing residue of light visible to the human eye and, therefore, the player cannot confirm the correctness of his aiming angle (the proximity to the target of his shot). Thus, these guns offer only a low degree of enjoyment and have a low training value.